Paulette Hamilton
MP for Birmingham Erdington · Labour · United Kingdom
“The Health and Social Care Committee is publishing its report tomorrow on fixing the food environment, and it will be making several recommendations to support everyone to eat more healthily.”
“May I start by saying that my thoughts are with the families and with the babies who have died? I would also like to say to my hon. Friend the Member for Sherwood Forest (Michelle Welsh): I am sorry you had to go through this. It should not have happened, and I am angry.”
“We have yet another review. My daughter had a baby a few years ago. If I had not been with her, she would have lost that baby, because it was as if she was invisible. It was not until somebody else went into the room with her and said, “Enough”, that the people there were really willing to listen. These failures are systemic.”
“Q8. I thank the Prime Minister for his leadership. One of the concerns I hear most often from my constituents across Erdington, Kingstanding, Castle Vale and south Oscott is about the rapid growth of exempt accommodation.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Dowd. I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Halesowen (Alex Ballinger) for securing this vital debate.”
“My hon. Friend makes a vital point. It needs to be joined up. The one thing I have learned from being an MP and seeing things work in my area is that when we work together, we get things done. Organised criminal networks are operating across multiple organisations and exploiting vulnerable individuals.”
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“Although the NHS said that the money is still available and has just been moved elsewhere in the budget, we are concerned that, without ringfenced funding, maternity services will be deprioritised and will continue to cause harm to all mothers. We therefore call on the Government to restore the dedicated, ringfenced funding for the maternity service development fund to its previous amount. Since 2019, the NHS has faced a £27.7 billion bill for maternity negligence. That exceeds the total maternity budget for the same period by almost £10 billion. I know there are funding pressures across the NHS, but that clearly shows that greater investment here would have the potential to more than pay for itself.”
“In a 2022 example from the Shrewsbury and Telford hospital, more than 9,000 missing ethnicity background details were identified. Better data is crucial to improving results for those with the lowest outcomes in maternity health: black women. The upcoming workforce plan must also include support and training for effective data collection. The final area I would like to discuss is funding. All the issues relating to maternity care that I have spoken about today simply cannot be fixed without adequate funding, yet the maternity service development fund has recently been cut from £95 million to £2 million, which is deeply concerning.”
“Without complete data, disparities in maternal outcomes cannot be accurately identified, let alone improved. That is particularly relevant in two areas. First, the current frameworks for monitoring maternal morbidity do not have the same scope or rigour as those for baby deaths or maternal mortality. Successive Governments have discussed implementing a maternal morbidity indicator to track and measure non-fatal complications such as sepsis, eclampsia and postpartum haemorrhage, but progress has been shockingly slow. Developments must be accelerated on that measure, and there must be a clear timetable for implementation. Secondly, too many ethnicity entries in the maternity services dataset are recorded as “unknown” or “not stated”.”
“It is essential that there are firm commitments in the upcoming workforce plan to deliver safe staffing levels for maternity services. We also know the importance of continuity of care to both midwives and mothers in building trust, tailoring support and spotting warning signs early. That used to be a national target, but it was abandoned three years ago due to workforce pressures. We call for that target to be reinstated in the upcoming plan. Workforce diversity is also paramount. We have heard that, despite almost a third of the workforce coming from minority ethnic backgrounds, that is true of only 12.7% of senior NHS managers, and 95% of midwife educators are white. The plan must therefore include specific targets to diversify maternity leadership and education, backed by robust monitoring. The third area is data.”
“Currently, where it does exist, it is optional or limited in scope. We also call for leadership to be held accountable for creating inclusive and anti-racist environments, as we have heard that NHS trusts can refuse even to acknowledge that racism exists in their services. When we spoke to the Minister, Baroness Merron, she agreed that greater accountability is needed. That is welcome, and we will continue to hold her and the wider Government to account on this issue. The second key area for improvement is the workforce. The NHS currently faces a shortfall of 2,500 midwives. On top of that, 74% of midwives cite unrealistic workloads, and 87% report unsafe staffing levels. Those shortages directly impact the quality and continuity of care that all mothers receive.”
“Another mother was told that she was making noise when she pleaded for help during childbirth, having been ignored by staff. Another experienced racism in its purest form, being told, “This isn’t Africa, you know,” when she had family members visiting. We also heard of a black woman receiving no breastfeeding help or support from white midwives, which changed only when a black student midwife came on shift. A report from Five X More described similar experiences. Racism in the NHS not only harms patients; it affects healthcare professionals from minority ethnic backgrounds who encounter and experience the same discrimination and structural barriers, just in a different context. That, alongside the host of other evidence that we received, led us to call for mandatory cultural competency and anti-racism training in the NHS.”
“Racism is one of the core drivers of poor maternal healthcare for black women, and it must therefore be tackled urgently and effectively. Black women suffer stereotyping, bias and racist assumptions during childbirth, as was made explicitly clear to us throughout our inquiry. The testimonies we heard were harrowing. Let me share some examples. First, women suffer due to the “strong black woman” trope. During active labour, one woman was denied pain relief and given only paracetamol—her baby was born 10 minutes later. Another woman was told that she could handle the pain despite losing a concerning amount of blood. We also heard of a midwife who chose to blame an African pelvis for slow labour, rather than check for complications.”
“Despite repeated policy commitments and public concerns from multiple Governments, black patients still receive poorer-quality maternity care and support. The support they receive often fails to meet their emotional and cultural needs, which has led to black mothers in England being more than twice as likely to die during childbirth than white mothers. The figure for 2014 to 2016 was almost five times higher, which appears to show that there has been progress in this area, but I stress that the reduction is partly due to worsening outcomes for other groups, not improvements for black women. Our report follows a comprehensive inquiry that identified three key areas where action is urgently needed: culture, leadership and racism.”
“Thank you, Mr Betts. It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship. I wish to make a statement on the recent publication of the Health and Social Care Committee’s report on black maternal health. I speak on behalf of the Committee, which I formally thank for all its hard work and dedication to this inquiry. I also wish to speak for the black mothers whose lives have been forever changed by failings in maternity healthcare, although I note that many of the issues raised with the Committee affect all women who use maternity services. I thank all those who gave evidence, written or oral, to this inquiry, and I extend my deepest sympathies to anyone affected by maternal health failings. The voices of black women are at the heart of this report, and I thank them in particular for their powerful and often painful testimonies.”
“I thank my hon. Friend, who is a brilliant member of the Committee, including during the inquiry. She is absolutely right. The issue of cultural change applies to everybody. We need to look at cultural change within maternity services, not just for black women but for all women. If we are to get the improvements in maternity care that we need, we need to look at how we can develop both the cultural awareness training and, more so, people’s mindsets, because of how they think within that system.”
“I thank the hon. Member, who is a member of the Committee—I love him to bits. He has been absolutely brilliant throughout, and I absolutely agree with him. I press the Government to look a little more carefully at some of the things that have been put forward regarding workforce, because some of them are simple things that would make a massive difference for maternity services.”
“To be brief, we do need to look at data. It is crucial that the rapid review takes on board the data and improves the way that it is collected and used.”
“I absolutely agree with the hon. Member. The ringfenced funding was removed. The Committee was told through its inquiry that the funding can still be used—it is just in other parts of the budget. But if we do not have that funding ringfenced, it will not be prioritised. That means that women will continue to suffer in maternity services. I absolutely agree with the hon. Member.”
“Mental health is something that I have been interested in for years. During the inquiry we did not specifically focus on mental health, but it came up through some of the personal statements a number of times. I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend that mental health should have parity of esteem with physical health. Without good mental health, there is no health.”
“We will of course share this report far and wide. I am hoping that every parliamentarian has had a copy. We will ensure that it gets anywhere that it needs to go. If Members share where it needs to go, we will ensure that it gets there.”
“That is a really important question, and the answer is yes. We were absolutely disappointed not to see it. Several members of the Committee highlighted that it was not there.”
“I thank the hon. Member for his question—he knows what I am going to say. Yes, I do agree with him. I became chair of the APPG on black health because I feel passionately that there needs to be more equality in this area.”
“I would like to thank my hon. Friends the Members for Bournemouth East (Tom Hayes) and for Chelsea and Fulham (Ben Coleman). I absolutely agree with what my hon. Friend the Member for Chelsea and Fulham says. In response to my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East, we do not have long enough to go through what needs to be done, but I think the recommendations in the report would be a good start.”
“I thank the Minister for his response. Community pharmacies, such as Lodge pharmacy in Perry Common in my area, play a vital role and offer an excellent service, and that is why I am concerned when places such as Jhoots pharmacy close or, maybe, fold. The winter months are coming, and I am passionate about winter measures. How will we ensure that our pharmacies can offer the winter vaccines needed this year if we lose large chains, such as Jhoots?”
“I welcome the Labour Government’s £20 million investment in Kingstanding in Birmingham. For 14 years, my constituency was repeatedly overlooked; it was even denied levelling-up funding on two occasions. Can the Minister assure me that after 14 years of Conservative neglect, local residents will come first, going forwards?”
“We all know that the system must be reformed, but that must not come at the cost of removing children’s right to learn, thrive and live their lives to the fullest. For children who can thrive in mainstream schools, we must guarantee the support and staffing that make inclusion a reality, not just a promise. We cannot afford more delays. We cannot afford more uncertainty. Let this debate be the moment that we take a stand a build a SEND system that works for every child.”
“The dedicated staff made three issues crystal clear to me: they face a funding crisis, there is a dire need for extra places at special schools, and specialist support in mainstream settings is, in their words, “patchy at best”. [Dr Rosena Allin-Khan in the Chair ] That story was repeated across my constituency. People described a process that is failing families. They spend three years or more on a waiting list, followed by the 20-week wait for an EHCP—a deadline that the local authority constantly misses. The Public Accounts Committee warned that the SEND system is arguably already at “crisis point”. Despite extra funding being provided, councils face a projected deficit of more than £8 billion by 2027.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Huq. I thank the hon. Member for South Cotswolds (Dr Savage) for leading this important debate and the 163 people in the Birmingham Erdington constituency who signed the petition. Their voices make it clear that SEND provision is a pressing priority in our community. SEND provision is a daily reality in the Birmingham area. More than 17% of our pupils receive SEND support, and we are proud to be the home of seven special schools, with many more offering SEND provision, so the issue of SEND reform affects thousands of families in my area. I wrote to more than 40 schools in my area earlier this month, and I visited Hawthorn primary school in Kingstanding.”
“In my constituency, many children have no playgrounds. The population is very young—over 69% are under the age of 45—and play equipment in the playgrounds is of very low quality. Does my hon. Friend believe that funding must be set aside to ensure our playgrounds are brought up to the correct standard?”
“Q2. The Mayor of the West Midlands, Richard Parker, is delivering growth and jobs by backing SMEs such as Booghe Toys in my constituency, which has just doubled in size. Will the Prime Minister join me in praising this success and confirm that boosting ambitious small and medium-sized businesses across the UK remains a key priority of his Government?”
“I thank my right hon. Friend for securing this really important debate. Does he agree that for my constituents Julie and Paul—the relatives of two victims—who have waited for over 50 years to get justice, enough is enough? The families are still grieving. We must secure an independent public inquiry that includes the effective participation of the relatives as a matter of urgency, so that the families can get closure.”
“As the acting Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee, I am delighted that the 10-year plan was finally launched today. I thank the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care for presenting it to the House. The plan represents a major opportunity for constructive reform of the health and social care system, and I am delighted that the Secretary of State will come to the Committee on 14 July to be scrutinised on it. Many organisations have waited patiently for the 10-year plan to be published. Will the Secretary of State explain how the plan will help restore the promise of a first-class service in the NHS?”
“That funding will be used to deliver several welcome commitments, including investment in elective recovery and urgent and emergency care; a £4 billion increase in adult social care funding; 700,000 additional urgent dental appointments annually; 8,500 more mental health staff; and £80 million a year for tobacco cessation programmes. Those are all positive steps.”
“However, by the end of the decade, there will be no real-terms uplift in the capital allocations, compared with this year. In fact, in 2027-28, the funding settlement actually falls to £13.5 billion from £14 billion the previous year, meaning that inflation in construction costs and materials will significantly erode its purchasing power. The British Medical Association has warned that current funding cannot cover both the new hospital programme and essential maintenance, and now that programme must also compete for funding with the vital digital transformation. Can the Minister explain how the Department will choose its priorities from those competing essential demands on the capital budget? Turning to resource spending, the Department’s day-to-day budget will grow by an average of 2.7% per year in real terms.”
“The National Audit Office has highlighted the risks around fragmented delivery, unclear governance and unrealistic timelines, and those lessons remain highly relevant. Its 2020 report on digital transformation in the NHS found that despite £4.7 billion in national funding, many trusts were still reliant on systems that were outdated and not integrated. The capital budget is being asked to do a great deal more than achieve digital transformation. The Government have committed to the new hospital programme, and to addressing critical infrastructure risks, such as those posed by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete. Over five years, £30 billion is allocated for maintenance and repair, and £5 billion is allocated for critical risk.”
“I am delighted to open this debate on the Department of Health and Social Care’s main estimate. My remarks will focus on the recent spending review, which includes some welcome funding increases and sets out some ambitious reform objectives. However, it also raises questions about deliverability, particularly of objectives to do with capital investment, efficiency savings and the role of social care. Let me begin with capital investment. The Government have rightly emphasised the need to shift from analogue to digital systems across the NHS. The increase of nearly 50% in technology and transformation funding will mean that it reaches up to £10 billion by 2028-29, which is a welcome and substantial commitment. However, the NHS has a poor track record on digital transformation.”
“The £4 billion for adult social care announced in the spending review includes an increase to the NHS minimum contributions to the better care fund.”
“What steps is the Minister taking to ensure that the projected £17 billion in savings will materialise and be delivered on time? What happens to those additional resources for frontline delivery if those savings are delayed or fall short? I will also touch on adult social care, which is in desperate need of reform. The Casey commission has an important job to do, but the terms of reference for the first phase of Casey’s work state clearly: “The commission’s recommendations must remain affordable, operating within the fiscal constraints of Spending Review settlements for the remainder of this Parliament.” Now that those settlements have been reached, can the Minister provide clarity to the House about precisely what fiscal constraints Baroness Casey’s recommendations will have to conform to?”
“Delivering the reforming elective care for patients plan is also central to achieving those efficiencies. It proposes reforms such as optimising surgical pathways through hubs, streamlining referrals, expanding remote monitoring and reducing unnecessary procedures. The plan assumes a rapid transformation of services, with significant improvements in productivity and patient flow expected within just a few years. That is ambitious, especially given the context of ongoing workforce shortages, ageing infrastructure and rising demand. Reform is essential, but it must be realistic, properly resourced and paced to succeed. We cannot afford to set targets that look good on paper but falter in practice, damaging morale and patient care.”
“They appear to be relying on digital transformation to unlock the bulk of those savings, which is risky, given the history of digital change programmes in the NHS. Another source of savings is the plan to cut reliance on temporary staff by reducing sickness absence and overhauling staff policies, including limits on agency spending and eliminating the use of agencies for entry-level roles. Again, this is a welcome ambition, but delivering it will be a significant challenge, one that will require meaningful, sustained improvements to staff wellbeing and working conditions. We cannot build a sustainable workforce on good will alone. Therefore, will the Minister say when we can expect an updated and fully costed workforce plan to deliver on these ambitions?”
“Hear, hear. My hon. Friend makes some valuable points, and I agree with every one of them. Underpinning the settlement I have described, however, is the Government’s pledge to generate £17 billion in efficiency savings over three years, with a staggering £9.1 billion expected in the final year of this Parliament. Critically, those savings have already been factored into the settlement—in effect, they have been spent before they have been delivered. In the light of that, we need absolute confidence that there is a clear and robust plan to generate those savings. The Government are assuming an annual productivity improvement in the NHS of 2%, more than triple the long-term average of 0.6%.”
“The Chancellor referred to the Government’s plan for an adult social care fair pay agreement. Reaching such an agreement is not just desirable but essential. Staff working in care homes are far more likely to live in poverty and deprivation than the average British worker.”
“I thank the hon. Member for that deep and thoughtful point. He is absolutely right. Timescales are an issue, and that is why, as a Select Committee, we are asking the Government a number of questions so that we can scrutinise what is happening and get the information. My Committee considered the better care fund in our inquiry into adult social care. It was introduced with the aim of driving better integration between health and social care, and shifts resources upstream from NHS acute services. However, the evidence we heard was stark. These resources have been overwhelmingly focused on hospital discharge. While timely discharge is important, that does not match the fund’s original objectives. How will the Government ensure that this increase in funding leads to a greater focus on prevention?”
“While both the main estimate and the spending review present a vision of reform, it is clearly a vision built on some highly optimistic assumptions. We need to see robust, detailed plans to deliver the digital transformation and the unprecedented scale of efficiency savings that the Minister is counting on. Without such plans, and without realistic assessments of the challenges, the risk is not just that these reforms will fall short, but that they will do so at the expense of frontline services, patient care, and the morale of our dedicated health and social care workforce. I urge the Minister to address the specific questions that I have raised today.”
“The hon. Gentleman has made a valuable point. The problem is that we in the Committee are waiting for the workforce plan, and we are not sure what is being planned. What the hon. Gentleman has suggested is desirable, but at this moment we do not know what the workforce plan will throw up. It is possible that what he has suggested is already in the plan; let us just wait and see. The current position is both morally unacceptable and economically short-sighted, fuelling the workforce crisis. What concrete progress has been made in establishing the fair pay agreement? Can the Minister give the House an update? Will she also tell us whether the funding that is required to pay for this essential agreement will come out of the £4 billion that has been announced for social care?”
“I thank all right hon. and hon. Members who have spoken. The Health and Social Care Committee will continue to scrutinise the health and social care sectors. The Committee remains united in the view that we need a programme in place to reform social care. The spending review and the funding tells us the scale of the challenge. On 5 July, the NHS will be 77 years old. I want to pay tribute to and thank all the healthcare staff and workers in the NHS and say a big happy birthday to the NHS. Question deferred until tomorrow at Seven o’clock (Standing Order No. 54).”
“Early diagnosis of less survivable cancers is vital if survival rates are to improve. What assessment has the Department made of the report by the all-party parliamentary group on less survivable cancers that looks at earlier detection and faster diagnosis, and what steps are the Department taking to deliver on this?”
“I was contacted by a parent in my constituency who was forced to navigate a complex and lengthy tribunal process simply to challenge the decision to place her autistic son in a mainstream school, only to have the hearing cancelled at the last moment, and a place at a special school offered. Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that education, health and care plans are not a silver bullet, that we should not need complex legal processes to ensure that young people can access good early support, that support must meet the young person’s needs, and that the money must follow the child or young person?”
“The results speak for themselves: over 140 arrests, including drug dealers, violent offenders and those carrying zombie knives, and even a live firearm; 124 stop and searches in two months, with 45 positive outcomes, getting weapons off the streets; a 25-year-old jailed for four years for class A drug supply—proof that justice works when we fund it. Operation Fearless was not just about enforcement; it was about partnerships.”
“We organised, mobilised and made our voices impossible to ignore. In meeting after meeting, we stood shoulder to shoulder with local businesses, community groups and fed-up residents who delivered one clear message to those in power: Erdington deserves better. And do you know what? They heard us. Working with West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster and Chief Constable Craig Guildford, we secured £880,000 from the proceeds of crime fund, and in January this year Operation Fearless was launched under the incredible leadership of Detective Superintendent Jim Munro and Inspector Shameem Ahmed.”
“The statistics were stark: antisocial behaviour, drug dealing and violent crime had cost our economy an estimated £7 million annually. Our high streets are the beating heart of our communities, yet for too long they have been treated as an afterthought, so I made it my mission—a promise to my community—that we would take back Erdington High Street from the crime and antisocial behaviour that had plagued it for too long. Here is the truth: change is possible. It does not come easily, but it comes when good people stand up and fight for their community. As a nurse, I learned that prevention is always better than cure, and as an MP I have seen the cost of ignoring that lesson. We took action, working with residents, community groups and traders, and launched a relentless campaign to take the challenges of Erdington High Street head on.”
“The previous Government made the choice to slash 21,000 officers, the choice to hollow out neighbourhood policing, and the choice to tell communities, “You’re on your own.” When crime tears through families and destroys lives, it is not just the victims who are affected but the entire community. Our high streets are not immune; they become battle- grounds where livelihoods are stolen. We owe it to every parent, every shop worker and every pensioner who just wants to walk their high street without fear to end this blight. When I was elected in March 2022, Erdington High Street was a symbol of neglect—a place where crime had festered, where shopkeepers feared for their stock, and where families no longer felt safe to walk.”
“I beg to move, That this House has considered police presence on high streets. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Furniss, for a debate on such an important issue. I thank the Backbench Business Committee for granting me this debate, and I thank the Members from all parties who supported my application. My constituency, which covers Erdington, Kingstanding, Castle Vale and south Oscott, routinely suffers from one of the highest crime rates in Birmingham, but let me be clear: crime is not inevitable. It is the result of choices to cut policing and to neglect communities—choices made in the corridors of power.”
“As Operation Fearless takes its proven model to the next struggling community, a new era begins for Erdington High Street. Thanks to our new dedicated high street team, six officers and a sergeant maintain visible patrols. We are not just preserving progress; we are securing lasting change.”
“The hon. Member makes an absolutely brilliant point and hits the nail on the head. Funding is key and if it is not given, we cannot get the same results. We cannot get the same results if we do not have the resources to achieve them. We worked with Birmingham city council, the Erdington business improvement district, trading standards and local businesses to remove graffiti, clean shutters and restore pride to our high street. I extend especial thanks to Caroline Anson Earp, the community safety partnership manager, for her incredible work on our high street. Today, traders report fewer thefts, shoppers feel safer and the buzz of community life has returned. Traders who once feared for their safety say that the difference is night and day.”